“So Earth is located somewhere over here.” Thalace explains as she points to a distant part of a massive map of the universe. I nod at her, understanding that as far as I can tell that that is an accurate placement of Earth, the Milky Way, and the Sol System: the name exotic beings have long given the solar system where I was born. The thronemaidens with me, as well as the princesses and diplomats, all cringe when they study the map.
Thalace is quiet for a moment as she considers what to say next. The room we’re in is a darkened auditorium with space for hundreds of people. That’s a good thing since we number in the dozens. The seven heads of the thronemaidens are seated next to me and they are attentively listening to Thalace. Future members of the imperial harem are also here, seated a bit further away from me than my bodyguards.
Thalace is using a laser pointer and pointing at a remote corner of the map being projected on a massive wall. There is also a circle around the region referred to as the Staneeth Expanse, the most normal, spatially, part of Etherscape located in the universe of my birth. The circle is located very far from the area the laser pointer is focused on.
The distant corners of the map display arrows pointing towards other walls. The maps displayed on the other walls are of neighboring universes, some of which are connected to the stranger lands of the some hegemonies such as the tel’Ovos. A part of me wants to explore the other universes, but I am not in a rush, after all one thing I have in abundance is time.
“That area is some… billions of light years away.” Thalace explains, which causes me to let out a small laugh.
“I am… aware.” I reply, which makes Thalace smile awkwardly.
“Emperor… Are you interested in the Sol System?” Mirvel asks, causing me to turn and look at her before I reply.
“I… I am somewhat interested in the Sol System. There are things that I’d like to do related to the solar system of my birth.” I explain, somewhat enigmatically. My explanation is purposefully mysterious.
I have not yet fully decided what I’d like to do regarding the Sol System. The question of what to do regarding my home solar system is one that has been in the back of my mind for some time now. The whole system is replete with life, and I went my whole life not knowing that. I lived blissfully unaware of the supernatural, and believing that only things that I could meaningfully sense were real.
“I don’t fully know what I want to do regarding the solar system of my birth. It is already protected from any massive threats by the nature of the veil covering it, but it still feels… strange to just up and abandon it.” I explain, deciding to expand on my thoughts for the sake of allowing my brides to know what is occurring in my mind. These remarks generate a small murmur of quiet comments from the others, which I hear and elect to ignore for now. Eventually Sif speaks up, her voice projecting easily across the auditorium.
“Your nature as a major veil strider makes you able to do things the rest of us can’t. You can cross the veil and, in theory, use your powers as an exotic being on both sides without issue. That means, even with JUST the abilities you’ve demonstrated to date, that you can easily conquer Earth. The problem, if that is a viable route in your mind, is the other planets.” Sif tells the retinue I have brought here.
“Mars is a world populated by intelligent species, and has some of the strongest technology in the solar system. If we had access to ether while on Mars we’d be able to conquer it easily, but as is it’d take a decent investiture of resources to move troops and more over to Mars, and even more to keep Mars under our control.” Sif begins as she considers how to go about conquering the solar system.
“Venus could make for a solid planet to occupy, especially if we heavily include your powers in how we go about invading. It lacks infrastructure and communications between it and the rest of the solar system are infrequent at best. It’s mostly populated by amazons and monsters, and covered in thick jungles.” Sif continues, mostly musing to herself but Mirvel, some of the thronemaidens and myself remain fascinated by her process.
“If you wanted to go the diplomatic route, our best bet would probably be Saturn. Saturn’s culture means they’d naturally be fascinated by the prospect of joining up with a civilization like ours, especially now that we have an emperor.” Sif says, not really offering many details but dropping just enough for me to be curious about what Saturn’s deal is.
“The other worlds are all a touch weirder and more disconnected from the rest of the solar system. Which means they’d often be excellent starting points for any sort of extended efforts in the solar system. Still, with or without your powers it’d be tough for us to really get anywhere in that solar system since it’s so far away.” Sif mutters, her voice quiet as she contemplates how to deal with the solar system of my birth.
I smile in response to her claims. She knows the truth regarding my nature as an omega lord and she knows a bit about how that invalidates any concern regarding distance. Hell, with it I can easily overcome even the fact that ether isn’t available in normal conditions outside of Etherscape! It is an absolute game-changer regarding the viability of my ethermancers and I being military threats outside of Etherscape. Fortunately for the rest of the universe it’s important that we keep that information on an essential need to know basis so for now I don’t plan to use my full power as readily as I otherwise might. At least not in spaces where I am known as “Ignacio tel’Avos”, the new emperor of Etherscape.
A part of me wonders, not for the first time, what the right course of action would be to help us deal with the Sol System. If I can use my powers even within the veil, even ON Earth and use them to affect mundane humans, Sif would be right. No one on the mundane side of the veil could overcome me, hell even the sum total of mundane humans and their weapons put together couldn’t actually meaningfully oppose me. If I wanted to conquer the mundane half of Earth I know I could do it.
----------------------------------------
For the first time in an unimaginably long time a range of sounds fill the air in the largest room in the spaceport. The sounds of walking and flying are drowned out by the sounds of heavy machinery, even as my party and I explore the gigantic chamber.
I am accompanied by Delphi, Insoucia, Heartening Glimmer, and Kismarc. We can all see both servitors and numerous other individuals hard at work atop machinery of various types. The non-servitors are curious creatures with female bodies seemingly fashioned from metal. They are avatars of the machines they are piloting, created using the curious ability that awoke within me in the wake of my first interaction with Mynassa.
Countless different types of machines used in construction are active in the gargantuan chamber. I can see everything from high-tech bulldozers to things I never would have imagined like a machine that is a fusion of a concrete mixer and a mobile platform for a massive laser. The whole scene is bizarre, but I can see them making significant inroads towards a total expansion of the spaceport.
My companions study the scene as thoroughly as I do. I can see Delphi mentally taking note of the various technologies on display here. Insoucia studies the servitors in the chamber and mentally lists out which weapons they possess. Kismarc is focused on the avatars I have created and is fascinated by the power I used to bring them to life. Heartening is not focused on any detail in particular and is instead curiously making broad notes about it in her head.
I myself focus mostly on my companions. We decided days ago that this would be where we’d leave from when we departed for Sorothustra, and now that we’re here we’re just minutes from leaving the End of Time again. My mind is energetically active as I study my companions.
Kismarc’s mind is alight with excitement. The man is delighted at what we are mere minutes from doing: visiting the world of Sorothustra, the homeworld of both him and one of my future brides in my role as the emperor of Etherscape: Kelarset. He is still diligently studying the scene in front of us, eagerly attempting to make sense of the bizarre ability I possess, but a louder, larger portion of his mind is excited for us to do what we’ve come here to do.
Delphi’s mind is cautious but she’s still excited to see a whole new world. She is wondering what this new place will be like, especially since it’s the first place she’ll be visiting without ether in it.
Insoucia is a direct, loyal sort. She is only concerned with security and she constantly, actively scans her surroundings. She reminds me of Sif or Chyliss in that regard.
Heartening Glimmer’s mind is a simple place. Her thoughts are only focused on what she can see and what she knows she understands, such as the fact that we want to help her recover from the damage she’s sustained so far.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
We silently study the massive hangar for several moments. All of us take our time memorizing this place and committing whatever we focus on to memory. I have no clue when we’ll be back, though I do know that coming here is not complex and we can freely leave or return here even without my powers thanks to Kismarc’s magic. Eventually the elderly being turns to face me and begins to speak.
“Are we ready to go?” He asks, glancing first at me and then at everyone else. I nod and wait for the others to nod their approval as well. It takes less than a minute for them to do so and when we’ve all signaled our readiness the man smiles and raises his staff.
The sleek instrument of his will is a potent-looking rod made from some dark metal. As he hoists it high in the air the space immediately around the rod begins to darken, and I watch the man grin as I sense the ambient energy inside of his cells begin to radiate the energy they store outward. I feel his will assert itself over the reality of the space my companions and I inhabit, and then I watch my surroundings begin to blur as Kismarc wills us elsewhere and also shunting us back in time to mere days after I was first made aware of my nature as a supernatural being. That said part is due is an agreement he made with Delphi, one that I played no active role in making but definitely benefit from so I won't be trying to undermine it.
As I study this bizarre scene I feel knowledge of a new power appearing in the back of my mind. My ability to mimic powers is on display… The power in question appears in the same space in my head as Shelavandra’s power, the ability to consciously channel ether despite being a manamutant, did when I mimic it. I gain intimate knowledge of what Kismarc is doing, the strange art of planeswalking. I also learn that what Kismarc is doing is somehow being enhanced by his staff, since I can do his version of it and I know that it’s supposed to be limited in range to about planet-scale, and what he is doing right now is a lot more elaborate than that.
I watch the dark colors of the walls of the hangar of the spaceport seem to distort and shift as our surroundings transition from the spaceport in my city to what I immediately recognize as another spaceport. The walls seem to lighten and become shorter before the blurring effect of our state of quantum superposition begins to die down and we fully leave the spaceport located in the End of Time and enter the one located in some city in Sorothrusta.
As the blurring begins to die down, my other senses catch up to my sight and I begin to smell, hear, and even feel a range of new sensations. The smells of both vastly different bodies and of metal, normal-tech spaceships hit my nostrils simultaneously. I can hear an entire city’s worth of voices speaking in a thousand different tongues, only two of which I can actually understand: that of the common tongue of Etherscape and that of Kismarc’s people, the Sorothustrans.
When the blur fully fades I can make out the precise circumstances of my new location. My group is standing on a small teleportation device, one only a touch larger than a teleportation gate like the ones found in the Dreadnought. To the left and right of my companions are walls, and we can leave the space either by moving forward and exploring the hangar part of the spaceport or turning around and heading towards what I can identify as the Sorothustran equivalent of a custom’s and immigration checkpoint, where a long line of individuals are waiting to be seen by red-skinned humanoids who stand taller than I do even in my post-ether transformed state.
My companions, other than Kismarc and Heartening, all stand around in a state of dazed confusion. Kismarc chuckles at them, and at their expense, while I study our surroundings.
“So this is Sorothustra? Interesting…” I remark, and Kismarc turns and smiles at me. I can feel the same corner of my mind where information about love, desire, pleasure, fertility and life within Etherscape flows into me updating itself to provide me with the same information whenever it occurs in Sorothustra. I learn many names, and I feel even more subtle flows and eddies of power slipping into me and infusing every one of my cells with the power that I felt when I first had sex with Sif and the other thronemaidens. It feels pleasant, even if there’s a lot less of it then I sense occurring within Etherscape.
“So even one of your kind can recognize its beauty? Amazing.” He tells me, and I can hear the admiration he has for the Omega Lords in his voice. I can also hear his pride, since he is determined to find even a spaceport, amazing to someone like me but probably not so to anyone from an “Exotic”, relative to Earth, world. I smile at him and momentarily wonder how he’d react if he learned that I was and am also the emperor of Etherscape.
“So… How are we going to leave?” I eventually ask, and the man grins at me.
“Are you looking at the gate? Don’t worry, I’m just below an elder in terms of influence. That gate is for youngsters. So long as we’re together no one will bother you for such small things.” He tells me, revealing we won’t have to stand in the line. My lips crest upwards in a thin smile, as I feel relief wash over me.
When our companions recover we quickly begin to move. As we do our guide launches into an explanation of how this particular spaceport works.
“This is the primary spaceport on Sorothustra. Intelligent spatial magic, provided to us by some of our specialists, is constantly at work adjusting the dimensions of this hangar to accommodate whoever is here and whatever equipment or technology is docked in this space. Whenever someone attempts to arrive here their presence is noted and the hangar grows to accommodate them.” Kismarc explains, clearly hoping to impress me.
“Once someone arrives, unless they hold special status such as myself, are an actual elder, or are representatives of a close diplomatic alliance visiting one of their holdings on the planet, they are expected to report that they are visiting. That said, many families across the planet have unusual alliances or even odd marriages of Sorothustrans and non-Sorothustrans and have provided means for the non-Sorothustrans to access their homes without going through this process.” Kismarc reveals, showcasing the rather lax government of Sorothustra in practice.
I smile when I hear this, since I have some knowledge of the Sorothustran delegation to Etherscape. They either do constitute members of a close diplomatic alliance or they will in time once Kelarset and I get married. I’m not exactly sure which at this very moment since I have not had enough time to learn the ins and outs of Etherscape’s alliance with Sorothustra.
Kismarc guides us past the Sorothustran version of a custom’s checkpoint, and as we stride past I feel several people stare at me and my party enviously. I idly sense their thoughts and feel their annoyance. Some of them are even Sorothustrans!
We continue walking once we move past the checkpoint and walk all the way out of the spaceport. When we exit it I get my first view of what Kismarc tells me is “Kosmos” the capital city of Sorothustra.
A small collection of buildings seemingly made from wood surround the spaceport. The signs and trappings of civilization continue in a circular radius around the spaceport for about two and a half miles before slowly beginning to taper off. I study the sights and try not to hide my disappointment, but Delphi is not as used to having a physical face and she is unable to hide her emotions as effectively as I can. Kismarc laughs heartily when he sees her face.
“Are you disappointed? Were you expecting some grand hyper-tech city like the End of Time?” He asks, clearly speaking rhetorically.
“Kosmos is actually a lot bigger than it seems. Each building serves as the entrance to a series of connected pocket dimensions.” He explains, before pointing his staff in the direction of one of the buildings.
“That is a gateway to a number of embassies. Representatives of every major civilization native to this universe and major on a multi-universal scale, from the Protoseelie Court to the Deo Cartam Accord, can be found by heading over there. Even some normally isolationist or distant civilizations, such as Etherscape.” He declares, confidently. To hear him call Etherscape either isolationist or distant is interesting, but I suppose it makes sense for modern civilizations to view Etherscape as one of those classifications given their recent, on a cosmic scale, history.
“That said, we’re going to wait for a bit. Our ride should be here soon.” The Sorothustran declares, speaking proudly and excitedly. I glance at him and almost question him, but decide not to do so immediately. He’s a proud sort with a flair for the dramatic, and I don’t mind giving him his moment to shine. We begin to wait, and thankfully we don’t have to wait long.